Finding Rin
by Alexandra the Gray
Summary: When Jaken loses Rin to the wild forests of feudal era Japan and a mysterious woman appears, saying that she can direct him to her, Sesshomaru unwittingly embarks on a journey that could define the rest of his life.
1. The Child Is Gone

**Standard Disclaimer:** I do not, nor do I claim to, own any of the characters from the anime/manga Inuyasha. All other characters will either be credited to another copyrighted work or stated as being an original character created for this work. Tsukino Cho is one such original character.

**Finding Rin**

**by **

**Alexandra the Gray**

**Prologue:**

**The Child Is Gone**

The sun poured over the ground through the leaves, leaving large patches of pale shadowed ground on the forest trail. All around were the sounds of nature; birds whistling and chirping at one another; the gentle gurgle of the water as it ambled along in a small stream; the sigh of the wind as it swept through the branches of the trees. The only sound that did not seem to fit was the irritating sound of an anxious voice.

"She was right behind when I last saw her, my lord." That voice and its pitiful excuses were beginning to grate his nerves. "Sesshomaru-sama, I swear she was right behind me. Ah-Un did not even notice her disappearance. Why would she walk out into the forest without someone to protect her? She should know better than to..."

He continued on. As if these words could redeem him in any way. He had been the one to lose Rin the other day when Sesshomaru had instructed him to watch after her. Sesshomaru was already feeling beleaguered and didn't need any help.

"...lying dead in a ditch..."

Perhaps he should kick the toad to shut him up.

"I don't want excuses, Jaken," Sesshomaru's elegant face remained stoic, but his voice managed to betray his frustration and weariness, "let's just find her."

Up ahead there was a bend in the path which, Sesshomaru could tell, led to a small glade. They were just beginning to round the bend when he caught a perfume that seemed odd so deep in the forest. Underneath the fresh scent of the forest there was the sweet smell of lemons, white tea and ginger. The triad of aromas provoked his senses to explore the intriguing scent further.

The sound of soft grass and clover rustling under light feet aided him, apart from the distinctive smell which his nostrils had told him immediately, in assuming that the maker of this blissful aroma was female.

Somehow the rankness of sweat did not permeate the next layer of scent, excitement and a bit of exertion. It seemed unnatural in a human for it to be absent, and by the very nature of the scent there was something strange about the redolence that made it seem entirely sincere about its humanity, which would almost immediately cause someone to be suspicious of it, if one paid attention. Despite the oddity, the fragrances blended together in such a way that he had to admit that he had never smelled anything as engaging when they reached his sensitive nose.

It was when only a small cluster of shrubbery blocked the clearing from sight that another scent found his nose. The odor was a slight and at first unwelcome pong that had somehow hidden beneath and added a sourness to the other more pleasant odors upon discovery. The copper smell of fresh blood seemed to imbue within an inner layer of the perfume. Amazingly, those scents combined somehow managed to make an unbelievably arousing aroma.

When he had passed the foliage he saw the source of such a heavenly essence.

She stood before him, between two great trees on the other side of the clearing. The blue-silver velvet cloak which she wore seemed to be an attempt to conceal herself from the world. The cloak hid near all of her appearance and flowed behind her, delicately sweeping the forest floor. The loose cowl hood was pulled up over her head, putting her face in shadow, only allowing for someone to see her beautiful full lips, tinted peach-pink and glistening with moisture.

"Are you Lord Sesshomaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands?"

The question startled him, though it never showed on his face of practiced indifference. It wasn't so much the question as it was the voice which came from those soft lips. The gentle, composed and somewhat grave voice did not seem to match her mysterious appearance. Sesshomaru couldn't help but watch her lips as they moved around the words, around his name, and felt an unfamiliar warmth begin to grow in the middle of his chest.

"Yes." His voice was strong and demanding of an explanation as to how this woman knew him. He waited for her to speak, but instead a moment of silence passed before them as he felt her eyes upon him, evaluating , from beneath her hood. Finally she spoke.

"Rin-san will be most pleased to hear that I have found you." The voice sang in his ears, especially when she spoke the name of his charge. "I was starting to worry when I could not find any traces of you yesterday."

A beat passed before he thought of anything other than the bliss of her voice.

"Who are you?"

The corners of her supple mouth turned upward in a slight smile at his suspicious sounding inquiry.

"I am Tsukino Cho. I found her in the woods not far from my home, being attacked by a pack of rabid wolves. We managed to save her from any serious injury, but she does have some scrapes and bruises," she said, a bit of anger, presumably at not being able to save the girl from any harm, however slight, showed on her face in a small frown as she said in a faraway voice, "and she was so scared..."

A low growl escaped Sesshomaru's lips and he looked at Jaken momentarily to give the little toad a cold glare, then replaced his gaze, which was now less menacing, upon the woman.

"If you wish, I can lead you to my home," she said, apparently having recovered from her moment of inward thinking as she reached an elegant hand up through the folds of her cloak to remove her hood.

When the hood had fallen away Sesshomaru was momentarily stunned, for the beauty of this woman was breathtaking.

Her ebony hair was as smooth and shiny as the water in a calm, fresh stream and reflected the light in muted shades of white with every cresting wave it took. Her eyes were like an early morning at sea. Dark, steely gray-blue crowded around her pupils before fading into white-gray fog trapped within black rims. Sesshomaru found that he could quite easily become lost in their depths. Her heart shaped face was fair and smooth, though with a group of fine freckles across the bridge of her nose, as she looked up at him with a slight smile upon her full, moist lips.

As he took in her features, Sesshomaru found that it took actual effort to hold the usually effortless mask of indifference in place.

What was this woman doing to him? To make him feel so flustered was unthinkable... and it only took her a few words and the revealing of her face!

"Alright." Seshomaru found it incredibly hard to make that one word escape his mouth, though he managed it. The woman flashed a dazzling smile, showing her perfectly white and straight teeth that momentarily stunned him into mental silence as he stared.

"Good." She started to turn in the opposite direction, her cloak rising slightly, allowing him to glimpse her slim feet which were clad in an odd kind of ballet flat-sock which revealed the top of her foot and had a kind of padded sole. It was made of a strange creamy white material that glittered in the afternoon sun. Then the cloak came back down and the odd garment disappeared beneath the folds again. "This way."

A subtle, amused smile graced her features as she waited for Sessomaru to come to himself and follow her. With a bit of irritation flashing in his eyes he began to follow her, not even noticing Jaken's curses as he followed.

Glossary:

-sama - like lord or lady in English. Shows respect.

Taiyoukai - a High Demon Lord.

-san - like Mr. or Ms. in English.

Tsukino - of the Moon.

Cho - Butterfly.

**A/N:** I hope you like this so far. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon. Please remember to review. Thank you! ;P

**A/N2:** I just finished editing this chapter after getting back to the world of Microsoft Word and SpellCheck. Again, please review so that I may be able to judge how readers like or dislike this story. Thanks.


	2. Get Gone

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

**Finding Rin**

**by**

**Alexandra the Gray**

**Chapter Two**

**Get Gone**

The setting sun rested low in the sky, casting a warm orange glow on the thin, wispy clouds over the horizon. In the middle of the lush, green wood a meadow of tall yellow grass, small clusters of clover and flowing throngs of wild flowers sat, unperturbed by the surrounding hum of the forest. A warm summer breeze swept over the meadow, making the grass bend and wave before it.

The sound of the grass moving against that gentle breath and the appearance of a trail through the grass announced the presence of a group of creatures. The fact that one of those creatures was in a fowl mood and felt the need to express his temper helped to confirm their existence.

"Why do you believe that she knows where the girl is, my lord?" an irritatingly high pitched voice squawked from behind the other two. The man walking between the complaining toad demon and the handsome human woman in the lead could imagine himself strangling the last breath out of the toad to shut his mouth, but refrained from doing so. "She could be leading us into a trap!"

"Do you have a better idea, Jaken?" If an outsider had heard him ask the question they might have thought that he was actually asking on the matter, but the toad knew that if he were to answer that question his life span would be cut even shorter than it already had been by his master. The toad fell silent for what seemed like the first time in hours, seeming content, or rather grudgingly willing, to study the ground beneath his feet.

Ahead of the two the woman seemed to be oblivious to her companions bickering, and continued to march forward, her blue-silver velvet cloak billowing behind her in the wind.

For several moments there was quiet among the three...

"She could be a spy, working for the Taiyoukai of the Northern Lands to kill you, Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken seemed to be having trouble keeping his silence.

An angry growl seemed to burst from Sesshomaru's mouth, unbidden. To his surprise, and Jaken's, a light, silvery laugh came from the woman ahead.

The warm feeling which Sesshomaru had felt earlier in the day returned, seemingly more powerful and calming than before. It infuriated him.

"And what might be funny, _Tsukino-san_?" Jaken's voice held great contempt as he addressed her. She didn't seem to notice... or she just didn't care.

As she walked, Cho turned toward them, walking backwards as she talked. "I am sorry, Jaken-san," she said with a composed amusement which merely served to infuriate Jaken even more, "but I find it highly unlikely that the Northern Taiyoukai would send someone to trap the Western Taiyoukai, since, as far as I know, the North and West are allies," she said, her gaze sliding from Jaken to Sesshomaru, her head tilted slightly in a questioning manner, as if asking if what she said was true. She then redirected her attention to Jaken and said, "Beside, why would the Taiyoukai of the North use me, a human woman, when she can stand neither on her payroll."

Behind her, Sesshomaru's face was, as always, an unreadable mask of indifference. He seemed content enough to just continue the journey without anymore interruptions.

Jaken, however, did not seem as sedate. His eyes had grown to twice their size, hard as it may be to believe, at her poised and intelligent examples as to why she could not work for the Taiyoukai. His jaw hung down, an invitation for a fly, if it chose to enter. His face stayed that way until a fly did enter his mouth, causing him to cough and splutter. When he had collected himself he began again with his accusations.

"The Taiyoukai of the Southern Lands has no objections to either humans or women in his court!" Jaken declared, as if providing evidence that she was working against them. In front of him, one of Sesshomaru's eyebrows rose, the only indication that he was at all irate.

"I thought the Southern Taiyoukai was against unprovoked violence..." Cho said as she turned away, her voice fading slightly as she spoke ahead of her instead of toward them.

"What does that have to do with it?" Jaken cried.

"Well, if the Taiyoukai of the South didn't approve of taking violent action against someone who hadn't been directly challenging him or his people, why would he send someone to trap or kill Sesshomaru-sama if he did not believe that those actions were right?" she retorted, her voice light, as if she did not take his jabs as a serious quarrel.

Jaken was silent for a moment as he searched for another candidate that might work in his favor. Suddenly his eyes brightened as he came to an idea. The brightness drained slightly as he looked at the two in front of him, beginning to imagine the pain he would receive. But no matter how much he would regret it later, he would not back down. He gulped loudly as he prepared himself for what lay ahead if he made such a remark.

"You could be working for the Eastern Taiyoukai," his voice was small and meek. In front of him Cho stopped in her tracks and turned back, her eyes wide with surprise and hurt, the latter of which she managed to quickly cover, but not before the other two noticed. Apparently she had not been taking their little bout of rowing as anything serious.

A low growl shot up from Sesshomaru's throat as he threw his furious gaze down at Jaken. After getting the point across and Jaken had cowered back from him, he turned to hear the woman's response. Cho blinked several times, a bit nervous at having such an attentive audience waiting on her next move, before replying.

"I forgot..." she said, her voice suddenly far away, "Rin-san said that you would have some kind of dragon with you..."

At the mention of Ah-Un, Jaken and Sesshomaru looked back to find that said dragon was in fact gone. An agitated sigh escaped from Sesshomaru as he looked down malevolently at the back of the toads head. The toad, however, did not receive the full force of the glare as his back was still turned.

"He was right behind me, I was sure..." Jaken turned to meet Sesshomaru's cold stare, his sentence trailing off as he began to tremble with fear. "I-I-I," he stuttered as he backed away, tripping over his own feet before catching himself, "I will g-go in search o-of Ah-Un." As he said this he turned and began running in search of the great beast.

After watching the figure scurry about in the tall grass and finally disappear in the wood that surrounded the meadow, Sesshomaru turned his back to the fleeing creature and started walking. Cho stood for a moment after he had passed her then turned to find the Great Demon Lord's back greeting her.

"You're just going to leave him to find us again?" she asked as she began to follow him, finding herself wading through the grass as if she were knee deep in water. Sesshomaru paused for a moment to glance over his shoulder, his expression one of boredom.

"Yes." His statement seemed to be an ending to the train of conversation, not leaving room for argument... of course this woman didn't seem to pick up on his little hints.

"But my home is not exactly the easiest to find." By the end of her sentence Sesshomaru had turned away from her and had again begun his trek through the golden meadow, which was beginning to grow steeper as they walked, that lush woodland which surrounded them growing ever closer.

"It shall prove as a much needed challenge for him them," Sesshomaru said, his voice frosty, but the warm feeling in his chest still remained. With every word she said in his ears it sounded like a chorus. He was unnerved by his reaction to this woman, though he would not reveal this to anyone and was awed that he had aloud himself to see this fact. He had to stop this feeling, and, at the moment, could only see stopping the conversation as a temporary solution.

"But even if he _could_ find my home he would have to face some _very_ dangerous creatures in the surrounding forest." There went his plan. "I don't think that Jaken-sama would be able to, um, overcome them."

Sesshomaru made sure not to look back. He _couldn't_ look back. "As I said... a much needed challenge." His voice was cool with an underlain threat for her to stop talking, which he silently prayed that she would heed. Fortunately, after that, she was silent. With her silence, the warm feeling slowly ebbed away.

With the absence of the warmth, however, there was a kind of hollowness in the place where it had been.

HE could feel the muscles of his jaw tightening and loosening as anger grew within him which filled a portion of the hollowness. Anger at himself for being affected this way and anger at her, for making him feel this way. For making him feel at all...

The sun, which was by now hidden behind the mountains, still cast a crimson light which gradually faded into the dark velvet night. The warm summer air filtered through the pines, making their branches sway to and fro. The gentle sigh of the wind accompanied the lilting song of the crickets. The scene would have been calming if not for the pair who silently trudged through the forest.

Cho had once again taken the lead and proceeded to push through the dense shrubbery for lack of a decent path. She held herself rigidly as she worked her way through, a nervous tension having settled over her ever since she had picked up on Sesshomaru's subtle animosity which had ended all conversation. She was confused at his cold manner earlier and her worrying over it only served to make her irritable.

Sesshomaru, however, was unaware of her troubles and was instead focusing on his own. Since the two of them had been left alone he had been pondering over the affect she had on him. She was a mere human, not deserving the amount of thought he was exerting... though, if she did not deserve his thoughts, why did he continue to think of her?

His mind decided to, without his consent, provide several _very_ interesting, not to mention _graphic_, reasons why she deserved his thoughts before he had time to dispose of those thoughts and mentally maim the portion of his mind which had chosen to rebel against him. In the end his efforts only resulted in giving him a mild headache.

For a time he was able to ignore her and allow his mind to settle. Then the sound of leaves brought to his attention the exquisite creature who was currently struggling with a thorny blackberry bush as she tried to unhook her cloak from its thorn. Again she filled his mind.

'_Perhaps she _has_ put some sort of spell on me and really _is _working for an enemy of mine...'_ he mused once he had overcome a small battle between his dominant and rebellious selves. He had to keep better control over his hormones.

'_That would mean that Jaken was righ-'_ He paused mid-though as the absurdity of the notion sank in. _'No!'_ he though incredulously, giving a mental chuckle.

The thought quickly jerked him from his ponderings and he realized that the woman was disappearing through the enshrouding masses of underbrush and tree limbs. For a moment he stood there in incomprehension as if he had just awoken from a dream. Once the moment had passed he moved toward the place where she had last left his sight.

When he had reached the other side of the wall of greenery he found himself standing in a clearing with sparse tufts of grass and a fire pit lined with stones dug in the middle of the clearing. Sesshomaru could hear the rush of a river not far off beyond the trees. Before the line of trees which marked the edge of the camp Cho knelt on the ground, her shoulders moving as the sound of light mettle connecting reached Sesshomaru's ears.

"Why are we stopping?" he asked, not wanting to be away from his duties for more than was necessary. As he came over to stand beside her he realized that the ground before them was not dirt, as he had originally assumed, but rather a dirt covered door adorned with rusty iron hinges an old bronze ring handle.

"It's not safe to go any further after dark," she said shortly as she turned a key in the lock and lifted the heavy door to reveal a case of uneven stone steps leading down into the dark and musty cellar. Cho reached out for the side of the door jam to steady herself as she cautiously began down the stairs, her head bent to avoid getting hit on the low ceiling. When she was gone from sight the gentle glow of a candle illuminating the stairway reached him. Sesshomaru stood at the head of the stairs, listening to the sounds of her rummaging, wondering whether he was supposed to follow.

After several moments her voice rose up from the cellar. "Are you hungry?"

Sesshomaru opened his mouth to decline when he snapped it shut, remembering how dejected Rin had been the first time she had offered him food and he had refused. He did not want to upset his guide any more than she already seemed to be, so instead of rejecting her offer he gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Alright then," she said briskly. She must have taken his answering grumble as a yes. "There's a river a little ways off. You can go fishing while I set things up for dinner."

Sesshomaru almost immediately felt himself bristle as he prepared himself to confront her about her disrespectful manner before he bit his tongue, reminding himself that she was his only means of finding his charge. He slowly turned away, silently fuming at her attitude.

Before he had gone halfway across the campsite the crashing of pots and pans rang up from the doorway.

In an instant he was at the top of the stairs calling down, "Are you alright?" before he could catch himself. For a long moment the silence that greeted his question seemed to press on him as a strange feeling which he did not recognize filled his senses. Finally a soft, weary, almost indignant exclamation of "Ow..." reached his ears and she said a bit louder, "Yes, I'm alright."

With an explosive sigh as the sounds of kitchen utensils being moved around drifted up, Sesshomaru realized that he had been holding his breath. For a moment he hovered at the door, unsure whether he should go down to help her or go to work at the river.

After a moment the sounds of the cellar stopped and her face, now with an apologetic, almost sheepish smile, appeared out of the muted light. "Really," she said, as if he had asked if she were sure of her condition.

Sesshomaru turned away as he felt his face heat up, not wanting her to see him flush. How could _he_, Lord Sesshomaru, Taiyoukai of the Western Lands, _blush_ in the face of a mere _human_. First the strange warmth and almost exclusively commanding his thought, then a foreign feeling, which, he realized with a certain amount of horror, had been concern for her well-being, and now she made him blush. He had been willing to ignore the first few, but for her to make him blush... unforgivable! And to top it all off, she had acted quite rudely to him ever since they had reached the camp. She had no reason to act that way towards him, he seethed.

'_Women!'_

Cho stood over the mass of pots and pans, looking over the wreckage that had once been something strongly resembling a kitchen, but now bore resemblance to a war zone. No matter how much she went over it in her head she just couldn't figure out how reaching for that vegetable peeler had caused the avalanche of cooking utensils.

'_Might as well get to work,'_ she thought before she noticed the light canvas bag with the word 'FLOUR' printed across it, standing precariously close to the edge of the counter across from her. She made a desperate move to catch it, but she was too late. The bag tipped, sending a stream of white powder to the floor and a fine cloud of the substance into the air.

When the air had cleared she found most of her cloak covered in clinging flour. With a longsuffering sigh she pulled at the satin ribbon at her neck, letting the front of her cloak open and slide from her shoulder to pool around her feet.

As she set to work cleaning the cellar kitchen her thoughts turned to a certain stoic traveling companion.

'_Why does he have to be so confusing?'_ she wondered as she helped a pan find its way to a hook above the stove. _'Why can't he just decide to be angry or embarrassed or concerned?'_

'_Men!'_

**A/N:** Thank you for reading. I hope you like this chapter. Please review. See you in the next chapter. Bye-bye.


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